Parents have been left angry after a charity offering a soft play class for children with special needs listed “left-handedness” in a list learning difficulties it caters for.

Cottingham Sports Centre, which is run by the KGV Cottingham Community Trust, posted on its Facebook page about a “special SEN (special educational needs) soft play” class due to take place at the centre on Saturday.

In the post, it listed “left-handedness” among a “pick 'n' mix” range of learning conditions including autism, dyslexia, and ADHD.

Cottingham Sports Centre posted the message on their Facebook page

The post said: “Tomorrow morning is our special SEN soft play from 10am to 11am, specially suited to those in the autism spectrum and other features of this pick’n’mix range (autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD, left-handedness etc). The upper age limit is flexible – just turn up.”

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The post was later taken down but parents who took screen-grabs of the post contacted the Mail to share their outrage.

Among them was Kristie Wood, who said: "I felt sad and angry. I don't understand how something so flippant can be said these days without an apology. This company claims to cater for SEN children but how can they when they don't recognise the differences between different diagnoses?

"To brand left handedness in the same category, and to refer to autism spectrum as 'pick 'n' mix' is beyond belief. Autism, dyslexia, etc are not simply pick and mix. No one chooses to have that diagnosis!"

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Another parent said: "A lot of people were offended by their complete lack of understanding on children with additional needs. To say a child being left handed is a "disability" is ludicrous.

"My child is left-handed so I find that extremely offensive. How they also describe children as a "pick 'n' mix" when it comes to disability is ignorant to say the least."

Another woman said: “What a terrible advert! Left-handed people are disabled according to these guys and people with disabilities are of the "pick 'n' mix" range!! Absolutely crazy.”

The centre responded to criticism beneath the post

The post was also shared on community group, One Hull of a City , with more people criticising it.

One man said: “The way they’ve used the throw-away term “pick ‘n’ mix” is highly inappropriate. As is the use of “etc..” as another throw-away off-hand statement. Lumping all the rest together essentially.”

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Geraldine Mathieson, chairman at Cottingham Sports Centre with Paula, a Bellway sales executive, and the bouncy castle bought with a Bellway donation

Shortly afterwards, Cottingham Sports Centre commented beneath the post to defend the wording of the advert.

In it they said: “We’re sorry that this has been taken to suggest that left-handedness is a disability. The comment was made as recognition that there is a set of related conditions (which includes left-handedness), of which not everyone has the same pattern.

“Most of them are a challenge in some situations but a real advantage in others. I speak from first-hand experience as a left-hander with dyslexia, dyspraxia and autism in the family.”

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They also replaced the post, explaining the session was open to all children "with or without a diagnosis", but this was later taken down.

They later posted it was for children 'with or without a diagnosis'

Geraldine Mathieson, East Riding Councillor for Cottingham North and chairwoman of the charity that runs Cottingham Sports Centre, said the post’s wording may have been “misguided” and it had not intended to list left-handedness as a disability.

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She said: “It has traditionally been a class for children with special educational needs, but we wanted to make it inclusive to more children and have actually extended it so children faced by any challenge can come along.

“While left-handedness clearly isn’t a disability, it can be a challenge for some children. In my view, none of these conditions are disabilities at all, but abilities which can make them stand out.”

Cllr Geraldine Mathieson (Image: Simon Renilson)

She said the post had been taken “completely out of context” and its meaning “twisted”.

“I had to take the post down because its meaning was twisted, and people were becoming abusive on the thread,” she said.

“It is a family Facebook page and we can’t allow bad language to be used on the page."